Mt. Oxford

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/24/2025, By: skippyville
Info: Climbed Oxford via Belford on 6-24. All snowfields except one very minor one, which is quite flat and all of 20 steps, are clear. It should present no issues for even the most cautious hiker. Two more general notes: 1. I found the route very exposed to the dominant continental divide Westerly winds so plan for windy, cool conditions up high, especially near the Belford summit and most of the traverse over to Oxford. 2. As of right now, the creek crossing just before the Belford switchbacks begin is flowing nicely for water fills. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/19/2025, By: JROSKA
Info: On the traverse from Belford to Oxford, the snowfields mentioned in the 6/8 report descending Belford are gone. But the other one, about halfway up towards Oxford from the saddle, still exists. There is a nice boot track up the middle of it. Probably not worth the extra weight of traction but it was a bit slippery, especially later in the day. Other than that it’s summer conditions. 

Route: Pine Creek/East Ridge loop
Posted On: 6/12/2025, By: carmitz001
Info: Ascended Oxford's steep southwest slopes (Nolan's 14 route) after an 8.5-mile hike from Pine Creek TH. Summited at 7:45 pm, then descended the east ridge past Waverly Mountain to the Colorado Trail. This was a sufferfest: 21 miles and 6,000 feet of elevation gain, with periods of rain, hail, and darkness. The Pine Creek trail was beautiful. The steep SW ascent had lots of slippery dirt and scree, as well as some fun talus hopping. No snow until the summit block. The east ridge descent was 3 miles of hopping down talus and a bumpy mixture of tundra and rock, then some awful bushwhacking to find the Colorado Trail at 11.7k. Some patches of soft, unconsolidated snow as well. Difficult route at night. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: caesarsalad
Info: Descent from Belford to the saddle had the most annoying snow, but the non-negotiable snow patches were heavily packed down with steps. No need for flotation. If you’re there super early, you might want traction but we didn’t need the microspikes we brought: the sun gets on it quick, by 8:30am it was soft enough for solid steps. Saddle to the top of Oxford is almost entirely snow free. One patch about halfway up is pretty spicy: steep and practically bulletproof at 9am. A much easier route is to go lookers left around it (see photo) on stable rocks. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 6/10/2025, By: ckaplan5
Info: Dry up to about 12,5, where patchy snow begins. Gully is in but in rough shape. Only went halfway until about 0630 before jumping over to the NW Ridge. The ridge between Belford and Oxford is melting, so expect slippery mud. Wildflowers are starting to come in down in the approach valley. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/10/2025, By: butlerer
Info: Most of the route is snow-free or you can avoid the snow with small detours. The exception being in the section from the junction of Missouri Gulch/Elkhead Pass up to Elkhead Pass. There's patches of snow there are unavoidable and were soft and punchy by 930- 10 am. The snow there wasn't awful--mostly less than knee deep. The trail from Elkhead Pass to Oxford was mostly dry and the snow that's there is largely packed down and easy to navigate. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 5/24/2025, By: jschmitz
Info: Pretty soft snow in between Belford and Oxford but was manageable in trail runners and microspikes. Did not feel the need for snow shoes at any point. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 3/14/2025, By: tothestars
Info: Adam and I summited Belford and Oxford via Northwest ridge starting at noon. Second attempt this week, thankfully was successful in large part due to the trench some boarders made past the point I got to last Saturday. the trench I made last Saturday was blown away by winds and melting most likely but you could see the route through the meadow. The people who went out between then and our summits continued the trench to the woods and to the river, where they seemed to realize going through the river was a bad idea and turned back up the hill. We had to find a route from where the treeline thins out to the base of Bedford and stuck close to the mountain to avoid deeper post holing. This meant going through rocks and snowdrifts. The route up Belford has a lot of blown snow in it to the point that we just went straight up the side of the mountain gaining about 2k in 1. mile. The wind was very heavy and made for a cold, challenging day. Reached summit of Belford at 4:30, continued to Oxford, getting there in about 45 mins and turning about and getting back to Belford in 50 mins as a snow storm was blowing in. Watch read 10.5 miles/6,700ft of climbing. Finished in 9hrs total time/7:45 moving time. (photos just of the route between Belford and Oxford) 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 12/30/2024, By: jacolc
Info: See Mt Missouri 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 10/27/2024, By: R7777777
Info: Snow on the trail starts a little above 12k, a little pass the fork where you go left for Belforf. Spikes/poles would be helpful, especially going up Belford but you could get away with not using it. In some areas, the snow is 4-6 inches deep. There is a good amount of snow as you descend Belford towards ridge but not much snow going up Oxford. Because of the snow you may want to give yourself plenty of time, likely take longer than expected. 

Route: Southwest & Northwest slopes
Posted On: 10/2/2024, By: Flips
Info: Summer conditions on the ground for both Oxford and Belford. I summited Oxford from the Southwest route via Elkhead Pass and after summiting Belford descended the switchbacks on the standard Northwest slopes. Everything is clear. No spikes needed. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 9/23/2024, By: syrupgravy
Info: Fresh snow on Sunday from treeline all the way to the summit of Belford and across to Oxford. Varying depths of a few inches to knee deep. No wind whatsover! By afternoon, a lot was melting out and the rocks on the open slopes were very warm. Slush and soft snow from false summit of Belford down and then just dirt from about 12800'ish back to the TH. I would expect it to stick around for another day or two at least. We didn't use spike because the fresh snow was sticky, but spikes would be helpful after an overnight freeze! 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 7/20/2024, By: peachy
Info: Did all three via the combination route on Alltrails. Started a little before 4, summited Belford at 5:40, Oxford at 6:30, Missouri at 9:20. Trail up to Missouri has two very short and very easily avoidable snow crossings. Weather forecasted storms coming in but it turned out to be a great day. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: Clairebaums
Info: This route was almost fully summer conditions. There was one small snow patch, but it was like walking up steps for 10-15 feet. The saddle was closer to 1.75 miles (3.5 miles total) measured from a Garmin Fenix 7S. The first part of the saddle is more Class 2 with some scree and looser rock, but then it's a very easy trail after that. The route finding was almost non-existent. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/8/2024, By: Ryan987
Info: Great day out in the mountains today. Started at 5 AM and trail all the way to oxford is 90-95% dry. Some snowfields are unavoidable and may be a problem to the trail breaker (I sank to my hips a few times). Log crossing was slippery and a bit sketchy in the AM. Sure is thawing out there today!